Mamun Mahmud

Mamun Mahmud (17 November 1928 – 26 March 1971) was a police officer and a martyr of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Mamun Mahmud was born on 17 November, 1928 in Chittagong. He was the elder of the two sons. His mother, Begum Shamsunnahar Mahmud, was one of the most renowned female educationalists and social workers in Bengal at her time. His father, Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud, was the Superintendent of Calcutta Medical College and would later be the Surgeon General of East Pakistan. His maternal uncle, Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury, was a close friend of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

At the age of five, Mamun Mahmud wrote a letter to Rabindranath Tagore to which he got a response.

Mamun Mahmud completed his matriculation from Ballygunge Government High School in 1943, his Intermediate in Arts degree from Presidency College in 1945 and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Aligarh Muslim University in 1947. After the partition of India in 1947, he went to Dhaka University for his Master of Arts in International Relations. He then went on to take the CSS Examinations where he was chosen for police services. He served as the Deputy Inspector General of Police and the Superintendent of Police of Kurigram, Brahmanbaria, Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Faridpur, Khulna, Dhaka, Mymensingh and Rajshahi.

As a sportsman, Mamun Mahmud played football, cricket and hockey quite well. He played for the Fazlul Huq football team as well as the Wari Club and also established the Kurigram Cricket Club in 1954.

Mamun Mahmud was married to Moshfeqa Mahmud on 26 March 1954. Their daughter Zeba Mahmud was born in 1956 and their son Javed Mahmud was born in 1960.

Following the declaration of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1948 that Urdu should be the state language of Pakistan; university students, including Mamun Mahmud, erupted in clashes with the police.

Mamun Mahmud held a firm stand on Marxist and Bengali nationalist ideologies. He was also a good humanitarian and cared very much for the common people. Despite being a government officer, many of his actions went against the purpose of the government and more for the purpose of the people.

In March 1971, he raised up the black flag to protest army atrocities in East Pakistan.

On the evening of 26 March 1971, Mamun Mahmud was celebrating his 17th marriage anniversary with his wife and two children at their home in Rajshahi when he was called to the Rajshahi Cantonment Area. He was never found since.